Former Star Trades Hoops for Office Training

Fast approaching 23, former San Pedro High and Stanford basketball star Novian Whitsitt is about to embark on a new career as an administrative intern with the Pacific-10 Conference.

Whitsitt, who graduated from Stanford last week, already has a worldly air about him, and for now, he has left basketball behind.

Whitsitt--who led Los Angeles City leagues in scoring five years ago with a 28-point average--completed his college basketball a year ago. He split his final college year between home and abroad, spending the fall and winter quarters at Paris University before returning to Stanford and earning a degree in international relations.

Yearlong Internship

He was selected from among 10 minority applicants for the yearlong internship with the Pac-10, which he begins in early July.

Whitsitt looks back fondly on Stanford, where, he said, he was allowed to grow as a student and individual as well as an athlete.

“On campus, one of the neatest things is, first and foremost, you’re a student,” he said this week. “People around campus really don’t care who you are. It’s easy for athletes to blend in as part of the student body. I like that--I never liked to be stereotyped as just an athlete or student or musician. I’m a little bit of all those. That’s how most people are.”

From early on, Whitsitt was not a stereotypical athlete--he was a straight-A student in high school and a classical flutist as well as a standout in basketball. Generally a shooting guard at Stanford, Whitsitt averaged 9 points for his career, with a high average of 12.1 as a junior. He ranks fifth in Cardinal career free-throw percentages with a four-year mark of 81% and had a high game of 23 points as a sophomore against Seattle. In the classroom, Whitsitt had a grade-point average of 3.42.

Of his college years Whitsitt said: “I got what I wanted and much more. College was an eye-opening experience. You’re exposed to people of all walks, you learn to deal with people. . . . You learn to speak your mind and get along.”

Whitsitt, who was captain of the Stanford team in 1986-87, said he was “more than happy” with his basketball career. “I went in with the attitude I would work hard. I wish we’d won more games, but we had our wins. I can say I was at the beginning of our new start. Now when people come to play (Stanford) they don’t come in expecting to win. They respect them.”

Whitsitt has played little since returning from France and has been concentrating on bicycling to stay in shape. Spending a few weeks at home in San Pedro before he starts work, Whitsitt said he is cycling about 300 miles a week.

“Basketball accomplished a lot for me but it’s something I want to leave as a good memory,” he said. “You won’t see me as a gym rat. I need to do something else now.”

All Aspects of Duties

The Pac-10 internship will expose him to nearly every aspect of conference duties, from management and business training to dealing with NCAA compliance and eligibility problems to handling public relations and even statistics.

Whitsitt hopes the yearlong internship will be the stepping stone to an administrative job at a university.

For the next year, the lanky 6-foot-4 Whitsitt will live in Oakland and commute to the Pac-10 offices in Walnut Creek. His approach will be similar to when he started at Stanford--that hard work will complement the opportunity he’s being given.